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Mitsuhiro Kaneshiro from Japan defeated over 18 competitors to win the second annual SKYY Flair Global Challenge |
MONACO. Campari International crowned the winner of the SKYY Flair Global Challenge last weekend in Monaco, in a competition created through a partnership between Gruppo Campari-owned SKYY Vodka and the World Flair Association to showcase the world’s best freestyle bartenders.
The finest ‘flair bartenders’ in the world competed in the final of the second annual SKYY Flair Global Challenge, a two-day event held on 7 and 8 November in Monte Carlo.
Mitsuhiro Kaneshiro from Japan defeated over 18 competitors from around the world and walked away with the top prize of US$7,000. He bar tends at TGI Friday’s in Tokyo and has won competitions all over Asia.
Second place was awarded to Argentinean Christian Delpech, winner of the SKYY Flair Global Challenge 2007; Dea Min Kim, the Korean winner of the Asia Pacific competition in Shanghai, finished third.
“We are thrilled with the continuing success of the SKYY Flair Global Challenge,” said Campari International Marketing Director Arnaud Glenton. “The competition is truly one of a kind and it has helped to take flair bartending further in to the spotlight; an exhilarating experience for bartenders and bar-goers alike. The competition has become an important event in the industry calendar and a showcase for upcoming flair talent.”
Before the final in Monte Carlo, 13 local competitions were held worldwide, each electing the national top of the class bartender to enter into the global qualifying in Monte Carlo. Additional qualifiers were sponsored by SKYY Vodka, as they were strong local talents given the opportunity to compete with the world’s best.
Five of the local qualifiers and one of the sponsored flair bartenders were the six finalists for the final on 8 November. Each competitor had seven minutes to prove his excellence to the judges and entertain the crowd. The contestants were judged by the World Flair Association based on originality, variety, smoothness of routine, skill and difficulty, music interaction, entertainment, overall performance and sponsor promotion.
About SKYY Vodka
Presented in a cobalt blue bottle, SKYY Vodka is one of the fastest-growing spirits globally and is the leading domestic super-premium vodka in the US, according to Gruppo Campari. SKYY is produced using a state-of-the-art process of quadruple distillation and triple filtration.
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